


I'm Counting It!

by Richard_the_Rhymer



Category: Toradora!
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Literal Sleeping Together, Romantic Fluff, Sleeping Together, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-15
Updated: 2020-06-15
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:41:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,481
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24737113
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Richard_the_Rhymer/pseuds/Richard_the_Rhymer
Summary: Her little head was nestled in his cheek and she kept nuzzling into him in her sleep - if Kitamura, Noto and Haruta walked in through the door Ryuji wouldn't be ashamed in the least to admit that his heart was doing little flips. They weren't, though, so he settled for smiling and pressing his lips to her hair.We're not married, he reminded himself for the fifth time that night.
Relationships: Aisaka Taiga/Takasu Ryuuji
Comments: 4
Kudos: 162





	I'm Counting It!

It was a cold night.

Of course it was, the snow wasn't long after clearing and spring was still a long way off yet. His grandparents lived in an old house, not just an old-fashioned one like he and his mother. The futons were a little old, a little worn. The sheets were light and the pillows thin. There was still a light draft bringing a slight chill in the air. He wasn't freezing, but he was cold.

But at least Taiga was warm, wrapped up in his arms. Her hands were clutching his shirt tightly, her grip as unyielding as ever. Her little head was nestled in his cheek and she kept nuzzling into him in her sleep - if Kitamura, Noto and Haruta walked in through the door Ryuji wouldn't be ashamed in the least to admit that his heart was doing little flips. They weren't, though, so he settled for smiling and pressing his lips to her hair.

We're not married, he reminded himself for the fifth time that night. They were... engaged, if he had to pick a term. They had given up on the elopement for the lost cause that it was; not that they couldn't make it work - they were certainly both hardheaded and pushy enough to do it if they chose - but it had been reckless, spur-of-the-moment, emotional, thoughtless and... easy. It might sound strange to someone who didn't know them that Ryuji and Taiga would run away and get married without questioning it despite only one of them (accidentally) confessing their feelings and only having kissed (again and again and again) the night after running away to do it, but it didn't seem strange at all to them. They had practically lived together for almost a year, loved each other for almost as long (even if it took forever to realise), seen each other at their best and their worst, treated each other poorly and selfishly, made each other better people, made each other want to be better people and knew each other in a way that nobody else ever really would - Why would it feel strange for us?

And what were those vows? 'To have and to hold, from this day forward. for better and for worse, for richer and for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, til death do us part'. How many times have we already promised to do that? Maybe not in those words, but...

Still, he had to keep reminding himself that this wasn't his wedding night. They hadn't had a ceremony, they hadn't gone to the officials and had the legal stuff done - but Ryuji felt married. They'd had their own little 'rehearsal' and as poor, hasty and thrown together as it was, it felt right. It felt more right than spending months planning and throwing millions of yen around only to be put up in front of a crowd in fancy clothing and being all dramatic and saying things he had told Taiga countless times already, only in fancier, less genuine words.

It might be wrong of him, and maybe Taiga would scold him for it, but even though he still wanted everyone's blessing for the marriage, Ryuji still preferred their 'rehearsal'. They had stumbled and tripped through it, no idea what to do. It was done on a cold night, in the spare room of his grandparents' house, in their pyjamas. She had needed to use a bedsheet for a veil and his lips were dry and cracked and rough so the kissing hurt a fair bit and he kept stuttering and Taiga kept complaining.

It was the way they had done everything for almost a year. It was perfect.

Taiga shifted in his arms. Ryuji stroked her arm with his finger and she hummed (purred, though she'd scowl and shout if he said so) and nuzzled again. The feel of her warmth made Ryuji hold her closer.

"Can't sleep?" she asked after a second. Quietly, so quietly it took him back to the days when she would get embarrassed over her new plan to win Kitamura's heart or something like that. He hummed in response. Those days feel so long ago now. "Hey, Ryuji... mph, nevermind."

Ryuji pressed his face into her hair. "No, what?" If it wasn't the night it was he might have felt like scolding her for thinking there was something she couldn't tell him.

Taiga played with her finger on his shirt, distracting herself for a few seconds. After her thoughts were gathered she gripped it in her fist again. "I've just been thinking, is all. About you and Yasuko and everything with my family - my, my other family, I mean - and I just... I don't know." She sounded almost guilty. "I've just been doing a lot of thinking and I have some things I didn't know I need to do." She took a deep breath and shoved her face into his neck.

When she kept speaking Ryuji couldn't understand her and even though her breath on his neck was making him shiver lovingly and want to kiss her again and again and again like earlier he rubbed her back. "I can't hear you."

Once Taiga would have tore her face away and snapped whatever she had to say. Now she slowly lifted her face and looked him in the eyes. I love those eyes. I've never told you that. I think I will. But next time. I promise.

Her voice was as vulnerable and genuine as it had been when she had unknowingly whispered into his ear that she couldn't stop loving him. "My mother and her new family, we really didn't get along when I stayed with them. They're not like him but I just couldn't stand being around them. I wanted to get away from them and they didn't deserve it. I... I don't want to leave it like that, you know? I want to make things up with them, at least enough where we can talk about things."

"Of course." Taiga blinked. "What were you thinking?"

Taiga blinked again, again and again, looking away. "Well, I was going to call and ask if I could, you know, stay with them."

Ryuji felt warmth and cold shoot through him.

Cold because Taiga, away. Taiga, away from him. No Taiga in the morning needing woken up for breakfast, no Taiga at school laughing and teasing him over lunch and blushing when Kawashima pointed out for the hundredth time that he had made her lunch, no Taiga in the evening chattering with Yasuko and eating more than the other two combined. It had been the case a few times, but only when she was actively avoiding him. It set a cold stone in the pit of his gut.

But at the same time, that warmth filled him up. Taiga never chose to contact her family - they contacted her. But now she was actively choosing to move forward with her life, make her own choices, be an adult like they had been talking about. It gave Ryuji the same feeling he felt more and more as time went on - Ryuji felt proud of her.

"It's a great idea," he assured her, smiling through the discomfort. Relief washed over Taiga's face. "When were you thinking? Golden Week? Round about summer break?" Shouldn't take too long, right?

Taiga froze. Something in Ryuji froze as well, seeing it. Then she smiled brightly at him and pressed her face into his neck again. "Yeah, I was thinking summer break. Maybe a couple weeks." The sudden weight lifted from Ryuji's shoulders. When she kissed his neck he shivered. She snickered. "What, don't like it?" Ryuji huffed. "Oh, you so like it!"

Ryuji laughed quietly. "Okay, so I like it when my-" he caught himself. Not. Married. "I like it when you kiss my neck. I admit it." He kissed hers in return. She jumped and went red, but grinned anyway and shoved her nose into his cheek.

"Changed my mind - don't want to leave this bed." Her lips brushed against his jaw as she spoke.

"No?"

"Nope. I want to stay here for as long as we can."

Ryuji leaned down to kiss her cheek and rubbed her shoulder. "Then we'll stay here for as long as we can. Someone'll need to rip the sheets off us, 'cause I'm not letting go of you until then."

Taiga giggled and burrowed into his face, nestling again. "Night, Ryuji."

"Night, Taiga." After a few minutes he felt her breaths go slow and calm and her weight press onto him. Once he was sure he was asleep he whispered the words he was yet to say into her hair. A few more minutes passed and he felt himself drift off to sleep in his wife's arms.

Yeah, I said my wife. I'm counting it.


End file.
